| Heya <<First Name>>,
Last year I was doing a crossword puzzle and one of the answers was “BOSTON.” I forget the clue.
But a little while later, for no discernible reason, I got curious about what anagrams I could make for BOSTON.
NO BOTS, for one.
Hmm.
How about other cities? “ANCHORAGE,” for example.
“OH, CARNAGE.”
Interesting. How about states? Like “MAINE.”
“ANIME.”
“HOUSTON”?
“OOH, NUTS.”
“MARLYAND”?
“RAN MADLY.”
Well, it was down the rabbit hole from there.
CALIFORNIA. Illustration by Jordan Kump.
Albuquerque was rough. And Louisville. And Iowa.
But there were moments of serendipity. Like when I discovered that “Hagerstown” makes “How Strange.” Or “San Diego” anagrams to “Sea Doing.”
I worked with illustrator Jordan Kump and pretty soon we had a whole new book: “The United States of Anagram.” It will be available next month, but till then, I’ll be sharing a batch of states and cities each week.
I hope you and your kids have as much fun puzzling through the place names as I did finding them.
Happy reading.
Jeff and Bob …
… who believe that reading with kids can change the world for the better
PS. “Most Arcane” in the illustration above is a tad too far east. We’re relocating it. 🙂 |
